Ministers could be given the green light to start planning an exit from the lockdown within ten days, the Chief Medical Officer suggested last night. 

Chris Whitty said Government experts hoped

Ministers could be given the green light to start planning an exit from the lockdown within ten days, the Chief Medical Officer suggested last night. 

Chris Whitty said Government experts hoped to have enough evidence about the transmission of the coronavirus by that point to 'judge how we can go into the next phase'. 

The lockdown is set to be extended today for at least three weeks, despite fresh warnings about the long-term impact on the economy. 

Ministers could be given the green light to start planning an exit from the lockdown within ten days. Pictured: Queen's inspirational message plays to the capital's empty Piccadilly Circus

The Cabinet is expected to rubberstamp the extension in a conference call this morning ahead of a formal decision this afternoon by the Government's emergency committee Cobra, which will be attended by Nicola Sturgeon and political leaders in Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Multiple Government sources said there would be 'no surprises', with restrictions rolled over for another three weeks and the next review unlikely before May 7. 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the continuing high death toll, which rose by 761 to 12,868 yesterday and is expected to spike again today, showed 'why we cannot let up'. 

He added: 'We will not lift these measures until it is safe to do so.' 

But at the daily Downing Street press conference, Professor Whitty said the epidemic was 'probably reaching the peak overall'.

He added: 'The more understanding we have of where that is, which will happen over the next ten days, the more easy it is to judge how we can go into the next phase in a way that is properly evidence-based.' 

Last night ministers were under mounting pressure to at least explain how and when the lockdown restrictions will be eased. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on ministers to publish an 'exit strategy' from the lockdown, which has been in place since March 23. 

There is also growing unease in Tory circles about the economic damage being caused. 

Chris Whitty said Government experts hoped to have enough evidence about the transmission of the coronavirus by that point to 'judge how we can go into the next phase'. Pictured: No sign of sunbathers or families on Bournemouth beach

Former Chancellor Sajid Javid said it was vital to 'phase out this lockdown as soon as we possibly can based on scientific advice'. 

A new report from the Resolution Foundation think-tank suggests that the economy could return to near-normal levels relatively quickly if the lockdown lasts three months, with GDP perhaps just 3 per cent lower in the medium-term. 

But a six-month lockdown could result in unemployment hitting five million. 

Pressure intensified last night after Angela Merkel released the first details of plans to allow Germany to emerge from lockdown. 

But former health secretary Lord Fowler, who led the Thatcher government's response to the Aids crisis in the 1980s, cautioned against lifting the lockdown 'prematurely'. 

The Tory peer, now Speaker of the Lords, told the BBC: 'We will certainly get into the most enormous difficulty and trouble if we go too prematurely and then a few months later we go back into crisis again. That needs to be avoided.'